{"id":610836,"date":"2026-04-16T14:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/610836\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T14:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:10:08","slug":"liv-golf-insists-season-will-go-ahead-at-full-throttle-amid-doubts-over-future-liv-golf-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/610836\/","title":{"rendered":"LIV Golf insists season will go ahead \u2018at full throttle\u2019 amid doubts over future | LIV Golf Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIV Golf<\/a> has insisted the tour intends to continue \u201cuninterrupted and at full throttle\u201d this season amid claims its Saudi Arabian backers will imminently withdraw having funded the breakaway league to the tune of $5bn (\u00a33.68bn).<\/p>\n

The future of the rebel tour was mired in confusion on Wednesday following an executive meeting in New York<\/a> and publication of a new Saudi investment strategy that did not mention sport and emphasised sustainability.<\/p>\n

As speculation grew, and with golfers and staff seemingly in the dark, LIV\u2019s chief executive, Scott O\u2019Neil, sent an email to staff, reaffirming the league\u2019s position \u2013 at least for 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,\u201d O\u2019Neil said in a hyperbolic rallying email, which the Guardian has seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before. Let\u2019s go out and show the world why LIV golf is the future of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

LIV\u2019s Mexico City event is taking place over the coming days at Club de Golf Chapultepec, the fifth event of the season. Speaking at a press conference before the event, Sergio Garc\u00eda said: \u201cHonestly, we haven\u2019t heard anything other than what Yasir [al-Rumayyan, LIV Golf chairman] told us at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat he\u2019s behind us, that they have a long-term project. And well, honestly, you know how these rumours are. There are always a lot of them. And I can\u2019t tell you anything more than what we already know.\u201d<\/p>\n

A view of the 18th hole at Club de Golf Chapultepec. Photograph: H\u00e9ctor Vivas\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

PIF has spent over $5bn on LIV since its 2021 launch having lured some of the biggest names in the golf including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Garc\u00eda and Bryson DeChambeau. However, the five-time major winner Brooks Koepka \u2013 who bought out part of his LIV contract, and the former Masters champion Patrick Reed returned to the PGA Tour<\/a> this year, while DeChambeau has refused to sign a new deal.<\/p>\n

LIV\u2019s emergence sparked a fierce divide in the game with the PGA and DP World Tour imposing sanctions on players who defected and no sign of the proposed merger following protracted talks to unify the game.<\/p>\n

The former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley says the PGA Tour could now play \u201chardball\u201d over the possibility of players that defected to LIV returning to their former home. \u201cThey got paid a huge amount of money to take a massive risk to leave behind the safety net, if you want to call it, of the tours behind them,\u201d McGinley told Sky Sports. \u201cThe tours are members organisations, so not alone were they going to LIV and getting paid a lot of money but they were harming the model that they left behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time they all justified it as a tough business decision, and they made that decision looking out for themselves. So now, if this is the case, the roles will be reversed, and the [PGA] Tour can play really hardball back against them to say: \u2018Sorry guys, your spots have been filled, and we\u2019re going to play hardball in return\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIV Golf has insisted the tour intends to continue \u201cuninterrupted and at full throttle\u201d this season amid claims…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-610836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}